Rhode Island Governor Donald Carcieri signed “An Act Relating to Public Utilities and Carriers—Renewable Energy Standard” on June 30, 2004, requiring each of the state’s

electric utilities to provide 3% green power in 2007. The renewable energy requirement, which can come from solar, wind, ocean, geothermal, and certain hydropower and... Read more

Storm Cunningham launched the nonprofit Revitalization Institute™ in April 2004. Based on principles outlined in Cunningham’s 2002 book

The Restoration Economy: The Greatest New Growth Frontier (see review,

EBN

Vol. 12, No. 2), the Revitalization Institute’s mission is “to advance restorative development of communities and... Read more

Lighting for Tomorrow, a

national lighting fixture design competition, has announced the winners in its first competition.

Stephen Blackman, director of design and product development at American Fluorescent Corporation, won the $10,000 grand prize for his chandelier design, Salem, which should be commercially available in July 2004.... Read more

At the June 2004 NeoCon tradeshow in Chicago, C&A Floorcovering, Inc. announced the availability of a new cushion backing option, made from recycled polyvinyl butyral (PVB), for all its carpet products. Spurred by a demand from Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest health maintenance organization, C&A developed the new Ethos™ backing as... Read more

Ecoshack

, a green design laboratory based in Joshua Tree and Los Angeles, California, has announced a

competition to design “an environmentally sustainable camping shelter—a ‘green’ tent—for use in the Mojave Desert in and around Joshua Tree National Park.” One to five winning entries will each receive $500 and may be prototyped on... Read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized

landmark regulations on off-road diesel fuel and the engines that burn it. Sulfur concentrations, which are currently unregulated in off-road diesel fuel, will be capped at 500 parts per million (ppm) in 2007 and 15 ppm in 2015; meanwhile, soot and smog limits will be capped... Read more

European and North American scientists and medical specialists issued a forceful warning on the threats of chemical pollution during a conference hosted in May 2004 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The

International Declaration on Diseases Due to Chemical Pollution, also called the Paris... Read more

Portland, Oregon’s Office of Sustainable Development has recognized ten local businesses with BEST (

Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow) Awards for efficient use of resources, waste and pollution reduction, and sustainable business practices. The winners with a building-related focus are listed here; a list of all ten... Read more

Interface Engineering, Inc.

, a mechanical and electrical engineering firm with offices in Seattle, Washington; Portland and Salem, Oregon; and Sacramento, California, is in the process of

converting its entire vehicle fleet to hybrid cars. Interface is passing its fuel savings, estimated at 20 extra miles per gallon of gasoline (8.5 km/... Read more

Surprising both politicians and environmentalists, Russian President

Vladimir Putin made a strong statement in support of the Kyoto Protocol in May. The European Union (EU), which ratified the protocol in May 2002, has agreed to support Russia’s bid to join the World Trade Organization only if Russia ratifies the protocol. “The EU has... Read more

The U.S. Department of Energy disqualified ten compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) from the

Energy Star® program on May 4, 2004. According to Richard Karney,

Energy Star program manager, the products were disqualified “for failure to meet one or more of the key

Energy Star testing requirements, which include lamp life, initial... Read more

Under optimal conditions, an air-source heat pump can run at a theoretical 400% efficiency—delivering four times more energy than it uses. But as outdoor temperatures drop, conventional air-source heat pumps deliver less and less heat. By contrast, the multiple-stage Cold Climate Heat Pump™ (CCHP) from Nyle Special Products, LLC of Bangor, Maine,... Read more

A team of nine business, economics, and engineering students from the University of Victoria in British Columbia has won the grand prize in the first annual

University Student Hydrogen Design Contest, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Hydrogen Association, ChevronTexaco, Natural Resources Canada, and Swagelok Company. The... Read more

The nonprofit product-testing organization Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL) plans to open

the nation’s first commercial wind turbine certification and test facility near Cheyenne, in rural Laramie County, Wyoming by the end of 2004. Distributed Generation Systems, Inc. will coordinate the design and construction of the facility,... Read more

The World Environmental Center has awarded

Johnson Controls, Inc. its 20th annual

WEC Gold Medal for International Corporate Achievement in Sustainable Development for “providing global leadership in revolutionizing the way businesses and institutions approach the design, construction, and renovation of their facilities.”... Read more

A coalition of corporate and nonprofit organizations launched the

Net-Zero Energy Home Coalition in April with the goal of “accelerating the economic development and environmental benefits of available onsite green energy technologies and energy efficiency applications and devices designed for Canada’s residential building sector.” The... Read more

The nonprofit Architecture for Humanity (AFH) has announced

a competition to design a soccer facility in Somkhele, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The facility, to be run by medical professionals from the Africa Center for Health and Population Studies, will serve as a gathering place for youth aged 9 to 14, including the area’s first... Read more

Four workers were killed and several others injured on April 23, 2004 in an

explosion at a Formosa Plastics polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production facility in Illiopolis, Illinois. A fifth worker died of his injuries on May 13. The series of explosions, which destroyed most of the plant, “apparently followed a release of highly flammable... Read more

by Bettina von Hagen, Erin Kellogg, and Eugénie Frerichs. A publication of Ecotrust, Portland, Oregon, 2003; 120 pages, softcover, $21. Contact Ecotrust at 503-227-6225 or visit www.ecotrust.org/publications/.“This is a book about a building,” begins

Rebuilt Green, and the lead character is the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center, a LEED® Gold... Read more

Sloan Valve Company, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of commercial plumbing equipment, has just introduced a unique, solar-powered, sensor-activated faucet. A small photovoltaic (PV) cell embedded in the top of the faucet powers the optical sensor. A lithium battery powers the opening and closing of the valve and provides back-up power... Read more